Germany’s two division structure levels the playing field

Round One of the AFLG culminated on the weekend of May 9th, with teams in the league's new Second Division taking the field.

The largest Berlin side ever battled the Rheinland B-team through four quarters of intense footy, which saw the Lions manage a 23-point win despite four Lions going to hospital in unrelated accidents.

The Stuttgart Emus in their first official game showed that although they may be new, they’re a team to be reckoned with, beating Munich B’s by 11 points.

In Division One, Rheinland demonstrated they’re still the team to beat, taking out Frankfurt by 9 goals. Up in Hamburg, Munich had to give everything they had to hold on to their 2 point lead late in the last quarter.

Luke McBride from the AFLG spoke with World Footy News about the league's new 2-division structure.

"The Two Division Structure is underway here in Germany. It copped a lot of criticism when the decision was made late last year to split the league, but you can’t deny the results. Four games of footy, 3 very close outcomes.

Developing Berlin now has an equal chance to taste victory against teams more suited to it’s own level. Newcomers to the AFLG, Stuttgart, can compete against other first year players found in Rheinland and Munich’s B-Team’s. Vice-versa, Rheinland and Munich’s newest members have the chance to play full games of footy where otherwise they would’ve had to sit on the bench or miss out completely.

The AFLG’s “trial” structure may not be a long term solution, but it’s the fairest one we could come up with. In a league that’s growing rapidly, albeit, disproportionately, it was the only way we could ease the burden on struggling clubs, integrate a new club and share the on-ground-time among clubs with too many players. And if Round One is anything to go by, it’s going to be a very interesting season indeed."